Nothing separated Rutha Mae Harris and the police but a gun pointing in her face. She stayed two toes down, ready to fight oppression in the way she knew best.
Harris belted out, “We shall not…” before her group, The Freedom Singers, joined her in using the song to tell the stories of our people. Their powerful voices covered the crowd, inspiring hopes of liberation and halting anti-Black terror, even if for a second.
It’s always been deeper than just music to us. The Civil Rights Movement wouldn’t have been what it was without the soundtracks that inspired change and the will to fight for another day, attend another march, and risk it all for freedom.
The Freedom Singers were considered “the voices of the movement,” and with that came arrests and the terror of policing. But Harris knew their creativity was crucial once saying, “Without those songs, I don’t believe there would have been a movement. It took away a lot of fear."
Rutha Mae Harris’ voice carried her to Washington, D.C., for the 1963 March On Washington, where she sang her heart out for the people. Her story reminds us that we all have a role to play. How can you lend your voice to liberation?